Every winter solstice for the last eight years, grizzly shifter Clayton Afters has roused from an enchanted slumber brought on by a dark curse. While his brothers are locked in their own forced hibernations, Clayton is allowed three months to tend to his family’s wintering apple farm.
With only two winters left before the curse swallows him whole, Clayton faces the impossible task of finding the one road to salvation: his true mate. Bordering on hopelessness, he has no reason to think his ninth winter under the curse will be any different from the last eight. True mates are rare, after all. Clayton isn’t even sure he has one.
He isn’t sure, that is, until he almost rear-ends her Camaro in the midst of a blizzard.
Penitent witch Clementine Weatherspoon has a penchant for fire, a knack for communing with the dead, and a complicated family tree. She never expected to meet her beloved in the middle of a snowy country road. She definitely didn’t expect him to be a towering bear shifter, either. But from the second she sets eyes on Clayton's inner light, she is smitten by the wild beast lurking beneath his golden stare.
On the darkest day of the year, Clayton and Clementine’s connection sizzles the snow. But fate has a peculiar sense of humor, and the winter solstice proves to be full of surprises for this fated pair.
This novella is the prequel to the Ever Afters series. It is intended for mature audiences.
Gen Géricault is a USA Today bestselling author. She grew up on ghost stories, iced tea, and her granny's peach cobbler. She called the historic city of Savannah home for most of her life, but she now lives abroad.
Her stories explore love, longing, and the tangled truths behind the things that go bump in the night.
What a heartbreaking start to a series!! I found this story at the end of the Ever Afters Book 1 story, and I'm glad I knew it was there and read prior to book 1. So much hope, and then so much heartbreak at the end. Please note it is a cliffhanger, and I must say I'm absolutely committed to finding out where this series goes. It really did the job of pulling me in, as I'm now starting Book 1!
Found in Shifters in the Snow box set and at the end of book 1 Rite of Spring I have to read the rest of this series, this was just such a great idea and well written. Loved it from start to where it finished. I am super hooked. Winter solstice ends without a HEA. It was a taster in the Shifters in the Snow box set. This story was going so well and I was really into it them it just finished. Boy did I throw a temper tantrum. Had to contact the author to find the book as it was not available. Threw me for a loop until I read the next book, Rite Of Spring. You must read Winter Solstice first before Rite of Spring to really understand Clementine’s role. The story entwines throughout the series until Clementine and Clayton get their story finished. This author has done the most amazing and extremely annoying thing in starting this series by making the prequel, Winter Solstice, a massive part of the whole series. Well done and a great idea but I am very impatient to read them all. Just loved Clementine and Clayton and the instant knowing they belonged to each other. Loved what Clementine did for Clayton with the tree. How sweet. Then it all goes horribly wrong. I wanted to cry for them both. Whilst I hate not getting a full book and being roped into buying the whole series to get to read the HEA for Clementine and Clayton. Having read book two I can only say WOW. Do it, spend the money and enjoy the ride. Their story is not until book four but the interaction of Clementine is paramount to what is happening.
This is best read as a prequel to the bear shifter "Ever Afters" series starting with Rites of Spring. It lays some important ground work and doesn't work so well as a standalone - the cliffhanger for one (which annoys the living out of me) but it's not a humdinger, more a promise of what's to come.....
I love PNR, but no so much the "witchy" sides, but Clementine had me in this book, the insta-love could be forgiven for the page count and the bear-brother's sister, 'Vangie is a tad on the awesome-sauce side.
So, not knowing the fate of Clayton, I need to crack on with Houston's book....